Getting Active on Your Daily Commute

The trees are budding, flowers are in bloom and people everywhere are heading outside to take advantage of the great weather.

When the temperature rises and you can't wait to get outside, why not consider the routes you travel every day – to work, school, the grocery store, and so on – as opportunities to benefit your own health and that of the environment?

One of the best choices you can make is to use "active" modes of transportation — which means using any form of human-powered transportation. It gets your body moving and can help reduce the number of cars on our roads.

Whether you walk, cycle, in-line skate, skateboard, ice skate, or even hop onto a rickshaw, you are using human power to get you where you need to go. Combining modes of transportation such as public transit with walking or cycling is also considered active transportation. It's a great way of getting in your daily exercise and reducing your impact on the environment.

Even if you live in a rural region where public transit may not be a viable option for commuting, considering the number of trips you make each day, trying to combine errands and replacing shorter trips by car with walking or cycling will improve your lifestyle.

Improving Your Health

The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that six out of every ten Canadians do not participate in enough physical activity to achieve full health benefits. Taking part in moderate physical activities such as walking and cycling reduces the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and many other preventable diseases.

On average, it takes only 15 minutes to walk one kilometre or to travel three kilometres by bicycle. So by getting out of your car and choosing to walk, bike, or inline skate for these short trips, you can enjoy the summer weather while it lasts.

For many urbanites, using active transportation means no more hassles with traffic jams or parking spaces. And you probably save time too — for trips of less than five kilometres, riding a bike has been proven to be the fastest mode of transportation door-to-door.

You can incorporate physical activity into your day in short bouts at a time. Try a brisk 15-minute walk as you go to catch your morning bus, a half hour walk during the lunch hour with co-workers, and perhaps a 15-minute bikeride to the local grocery store in the evening — that adds up to an hour of exercise!